After a long flight we arrived safe and sound in Vietnam. It's a hustle and bustle, scooters are literally everywhere, the people are friendly and it is amazingly green!
We spend our first days exploring Hanoi, the vibrant capital city of Vietnam.
The old quarter, where we stayed, is lively and full of tiny shops and stalls that sell anything and everything. They are all divided up in streets, e.g the vegetable street, the meat street, the clothes street etc. You even have an ice cream street and a fruit juice street. The streets are crowded with people but dominated by the motorbikes, they are everywhere and they carry all sorts of things: huge bags, pipes, mattresses, 4 people.. You named it and it will fit. The drivers als use honking as a way to indicate their presence and they seem to disregard all traffic rules. It's pretty chaotic but somehow it works. We also got used very quickly to just cross the streets and keep walking even though all the motorbikes are racing around you.
There is also beautiful lake in the middle of the city. It's very green around it and there is a beautiful pagoda in the middle of it. You can easily walk around it. While doing so we helped some local students practice their English and watched women dance by the lake side.
We also visited the famous train street, a tiny street where a train passes (now mainly closed for tourists). Afterwards we went to the museum of military history and continued to the imperial citadel. The areas outside the old quarter are more modern and there is some beautiful architecture with lots of French influences.
Last but not least there is of course the food! And Vietnamese cuisine is yummy. We had pho (noodle soup), spring rolls, bun cha, egg coffee (sounds bad but it's really amazing!) and more. It's been a great start of our trip and can't wait to see and taste more!
Next stop is Sapa!
Comments